JVC Everio GS-TD1 3D camcorder

Purpose-built stereo shooter for Avatar aficionados

Record timing

There are two flavours of MVC: THR with an average bitrate of 34Mbps, and TSR with an average bitrate of 22Mbps. This translates to four and six hours recording respectively. Choose AVCHD 3D and opt for either TXP mode (24 Mbps for 5 hours 50 mins) or TSP (12 Mbps @ 11 hours 40 mins). There are four AVCHD 2D modes with bitrates that range from 24 Mbps to just 5 Mbps.

Unconventional design, but great results

Shooting digital still images in 3D is also a surprisingly satisfying pursuit. 3D stills are Full HD res in .mpo format; 2D jpegs can be shot either 16:9 (up to 2304 x 1296) or 4:3 (down to 640 x 480). Audio is courtesy of the brand’s Biphonic ‘surround’ sound processor. I found results perfectly serviceable, and weighted sensibly to the front.

The GS-TD1 ships with Pixela Everio MediaBrowser 3D for Windows, a media management and editing package. This is fine for editing and uploading to YouTube but it’s not as sophisticated, for example, as Pinnacle Studio 15 – the software I used to edit the sample footage.

Battery life is reasonable, given the drain from the twin optics and fancy touchscreen. The supplied Li-Ion battery typically managed over an hour with stop/start recording. There’s a larger optional battery pack available: the £100 BN-VF823U and JVC quotes 2hrs for 2D recording and 1hr 40 mins for 3D AVCHD.

Verdict

Make no mistake; JVC’s GS-TD1 is a highly specialised camcorder. I certainly wouldn’t advocate buying it unless you have a serious interest in 3D photography. However if 3D is an area you want to be creative in, this is by far and away the best non-broadcast class model I’ve seen and puts in an excellent performance. ®